Pediatric multiple sclerosis: analysis of clinical and epidemiological aspects according to National MS Society Consensus 2007.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of child/adolescence multiple sclerosis (MS).


METHODS
According to a descriptive, cohort study, with comparison of groups, data of 31 cases of child/adolescent MS, diagnosed at State Reference Center for Demyelinating Diseases-Hospital da Restauração, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, from 1987 to July 2007, were analyzed. The variables were: sex, initial symptoms, time for diagnosis, time of disease onset (early childhood, later childhood and adolescence), time of follow-up, number of relapses, relapses index and disability. Using SPSS software, version 13.0, t Student and Mann-Whitney tests were performed, with significance level of 0.05.


RESULTS
There were 3 (9.7%) cases of early childhood MS, 9 (29%), of late childhood MS, and 19 (61.3%), of adolescence MS. The general sex rate female: male was 1.8:1, varying according to age of onset. The predominant deficits were motor (12; 38.7%) and brainstem/cerebellum (7; 22.5%) especially on subsequent relapses of relapsing/remitting form. Time for diagnosis and average relapses index were higher in early childhood than in adolescence class (p=0.049 and p=0.028, respectively). Disability was higher for primary and secondary MS, as well as for early childhood.


CONCLUSIONS
Early childhood MS presents proper and different characteristics from adults, consisting in a difficult diagnosis that demands aid of expert neurologist on MS.
Ferreira
Maria Lúcia Brito
ML
Neurology Department, Centre for Attention to Patients with Demyelinating Diseases, Hospital da Restauração, Recife, PE, Brazil. lucabrito@uol.com.br
Machado
Maria Iris Morais
MI
Dantas
Maria José Guedes
MJ
Moreira
Alvaro José Porto
AJ
Souza
Adélia Maria de Miranda Henriques
AM
D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence